It’s probably no surprise that the amount of clutter in your life can have a direct impact on your mood. But while many people get rid of the excess stuff in their home, digital clutter isn’t always on the radar.
Just like tidying your home or your car, removing the junk on your phone can feel liberating. Organising the layout of apps can also help to reduce your screen time, positively impacting productivity and your mental health.
What are the benefits of a declutter?
- Optimize performance of devices and improve functionality
- Find the apps and files you regularly use easier and spend less time looking for them
- Free up valuable space in your phone’s memory
- Increase battery life
- Reduces distractions and mental clutter
Simple steps to declutter
Phonebook clear out
When was the last time you updated your phonebook contacts? You probably have numbers for people you will never speak with, old friends, colleagues, businesses or contractors. Some of these numbers might not even be active. Take a moment to go through your contacts list and delete any numbers you will never need again.
Delete photos
One of the largest drains on your phone memory are photos and videos saved to the device. Now let’s not start deleting our memories, but there will be a number of images that can go in the bin. For regular users of social media, it’s estimated that for every perfect shot shared online, there’s five other nearly identical shots that didn’t make the cut. Not to mention screen grabs of a product you have already bought, an image of a document you’ve already sent via email, or a picture of a meme you have already shared. Now’s the time to sort through them- don’t forgot you may need to delete them twice if you have a ‘recently deleted’ folder too.
Unsubscribe to emails
If you bought anything online in the past 10-15 years, then you’ll be on the seller’s mailing list. Don’t get me wrong, this is great if you’re a regular customer of theirs to hear about the latest offers or products, but do you really need to know about an offer on baby products for your now teenage kids? Unsubscribing will reduce the emails you receive, significantly reducing your notification pop-ups which can cause distraction and clean up your email inbox at the same time.
Delete old voicemails
If you’ve never checked this, you’ll likely be shocked with the amount you have saved on your phone. These messages are taking up valuable space on your phone’s storage and add to the clutter that you really don’t need.
Delete unused apps
How many apps do you have on your phone vs how many have you used in the past three months? Purging the apps that you no longer use can clean up your phone screen. It will help you to find the apps you do use easier, saving time and improve your phones performance and battery life. Don’t worry, if you ever need that app again you can re-download it at any time.
Minimise your notifications
Apps come with notification “push” settings. These are useful for messaging services, email or breaking news. But do you really need notifications from take aways, mobile games and other apps? If not shut down the notifications for fewer pop-up distractions.
Organise your apps
Create folders and arrange your apps by category, such as retailer apps in a shopping folder, social media apps in a social folder, games and tele apps in an entertainment folder and so on. You’d be amazed how much quicker finding your frequently used apps can be and how much cleaner your phone screen looks.
Decluttering your digital life leads to a more efficient and stress-free online experience. Incorporate these tips to stay on top of your phone clutter and make time to have a regular clean up.
